Calabrian pickles: a journey through traditional flavours

Are you a fan of homemade products and pickles? Calabria is the land of an ancient tradition of pickles, homemade sauces and all kinds of typical Calabrian pickles that lovingly process the fruits of summer to enjoy them all year round.

Calabrian pickles in oil, in salt and in spirit are one of the oldest gastronomic traditions of the region's culture and bring to the table products with a rich flavour, where the secret ingredient is love for the land.

More and more often, in the autumn/spring low season, Calabria is a destination for slow and eco-sustainable tourism, who choose destinations where they can enjoy a holiday dedicated to picking fruit and vegetables to be transformed into typical Calabrian pickles, or tasty "souvenirs" made with their own hands.  

There are places where hospitality is demonstrated at the table: Calabria is one of them! If you are on holiday in Calabria in the low season, don't miss the opportunity to participate in a very ancient gastronomic ritual, the preparation of typical Calabrian pickles and pickles in oil.

There is nothing more fascinating than witnessing the homemade processing of some of the most beloved products of the region's gastronomy, starting with a ‘must’: homemade tomato sauce.

From the north to the south of the region, there is no family that does not prepare tomato sauce throughout the year. Once upon a time, homemade tomato sauce was a true collective ritual: it involved everyone, young and old, and turned every village district into a feast, as it took place in the streets, where the large steaming cauldrons spread the unmistakable scent of tomato and basil.  

In Calabria, there is a special variety of tomato destined for the typical Calabrian salad and other preparations. You will find it in Belmonte Calabro, in the province of Cosenza, the town of the delicious Belmonte Tomato with the De.Co. (‘Municipal Designation of Origin’) mark.

While today state-of-the-art techniques and tools are used for long food preservation, from vacuum-packing to cold methods, in the past everything passed through cooking, brining and the use of artisanal presses, such as the large stones (màzzare) used to soften and crush the freshly-picked olives, before seasoning them with the typical aromas and making alivètta.

Calabrian pickles in oil are enclosed in the ‘magic’ container, which every housewife buys in different shapes and sizes to suit the contents, sterilising it carefully and sealing it hermetically: u buccàcciu (boccàccio), the typical glass jar with the ever-present hand-written label.

But what are the typical Calabrian pickles that you absolutely must taste and buy?

Among the Calabrian pickles in oil, we have just mentioned the delicious alivètta, i.e. green olives crushed and seasoned with PGI Calabria Oil, garlic, wild fennel and spicy Calabrian chilli pepper.

The last one, in addition to being an added value of many typical Calabrian pickles, is also treated and preserved on its own according to taste and in many varieties: from pure chilli peppers, ground and put in oil to be used as a condiment for other dishes, to chilli peppers stuffed with Calabrian tuna and capers, a real delicacy among Calabrian pickles in oil.

Among the typical Calabrian pickles, a chapter is reserved for the traditional aubergine in oil.

Introduced to southern Italy in the Middle Ages by the Arab and Saracen populations, aubergines are one of the staple foods of the Calabrian diet and of the Mediterranean diet in general (which originated in Calabria, in Nicotera, "Land of the Mediterranean Diet" in the province of Vibo Valentia).

At the end of summer, the aubergines are blanched, salted and cut, then seasoned with garlic, PGI Calabria Oil, Calabrian chilli pepper and mint, ready to be pickled in jars, keeping the flavour and aroma unaltered for at least two years.

There are also some places famous for Calabrian pickles in oil made from fish. To taste them, one has to travel to the coast of the Middle and Upper Ionian Sea of Cosenza and Crotone, or to the towns of the typical Sardella Calabrese (or Rosamarina).

Also known as "Nduja di Pesce" and "Caviale Calabrese", Sardella is a spreadable sauce made from small blue fish (bianchetto or nunnàta), Calabrian chilli pepper, salt and wild fennel flowers. Everything is pressed under a weight, in a barrel, exactly as the ancient Romans did when preparing ‘garum’ (colatura di alici).

The places of Sardella? Crotone and its province, in particular Crucoli "Land of the Sardella", Cirò Marina and Cariati.

Among Calabrian pickles in oil, mushrooms deserve a special mention, coming from a mountain that boasts dozens of varieties, the result of the extraordinary biodiversity of its national and regional parks.

One of the region's most prized mushrooms is the Porcino delle Serre, which specialised pickers find in the woods around Serra San Bruno, in the province of Vibo Valentia, to make Calabrian pickles in oil accompanied by a pinch of salt, Olio di Calabria IGP, black peppercorns, garlic and bay leaves. 

Other specialities that come under the heading of typical Calabrian pickles are jams and marmalades, from those made with traditional fruit and Calabrian chestnuts, to the unmissable caramelised PGI Tropea Red Onion jam; not forgetting the production of honey and fruit in spirits (cherries, wild strawberries, etc.).

Where to spend an active holiday or a single day dedicated to the production of typical Calabrian pickles? In the ‘slow villages’ that offer this type of activity and in the educational farms and farmhouses that await you and the whole family.